1,000th Draft Pick Club

[webmaster]

Most fans have heard the story about the Los Angeles Dodgers taking a chance on a little known catcher named Piazza, Mike. 1988 was the year and sixty-two rounds in, they drafted him with the 1,390th pick overall as a favor for his father. As I was completing the overall pick project on Baseball Almanac, I began to wonder who else was drafted in that same range so I put together the list below.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This list shows players who were selected with an overall pick greater than 999 THAT SIGNED. Note the emphasis on those last two words as there have been many players drafted in the 1,000's who did not sign, but instead chose to wait for a higher pick thus giving them a higher signing bonus. I chose to include only those who did sign:

1,000 Sadler, Carl
1,002 Hart, Bo
1,006 Ibañez, Raúl
1,007 Mathews, T.J.
1,009 Dingman, Craig
1,009 Frederick, Kevin
1,009 Gaudin, Chad
1,015 Morman, Alvin
1,017 Scott, Tony
1,024 Wheeler, Dan
1,026 Cowens, Al
1,026 Claussen, Brandon
1,027 Hollins, Jessie
1,029 Fletcher, Paul
1,029 Fasano, Sal
1,030 Barker, Richie
1,038 Heflin, Bronson
1,046 Peters, Chris
1,056 Howard, Chris
1,058 Clapp, Stubby
1,063 James, Mike
1,063 Raabe, Brian
1,074 Lindsey, Rod
1,078 Franklin, Wayne
1,079 Berg, Dave
1,079 Foster, Kris
1,084 Snyder, Earl
1,085 Spivey, Junior
1,093 Mahoney, Mike
1,098 Mohler, Mike
1,100 Tremie, Chris
1,102 Sutko, Glenn
1,103 Cintrón, Álex
1,118 Porter, Bo
1,120 Young, Eric
1,135 Schmidt, Curt
1,135 Tankersley, Dennis
1,136 Jones, Terry
1,137 Shields, Scot
1,138 Figga, Mike
1,138 Kubenka, Jeff
1,139 Buehrle, Mark
1,140 Jones, Bobby
1,143 Ingram, Garey
1,148 Jackson, Damian
1,151 Ausmus, Brad
1,151 Cather, Mike
1,155 Curtis, Chad
1,155 Otero, Ricky
1,157 Isringhausen, Jason
1,157 Baptist, Travis
1,169 Glauber, Keith
1,193 Lugo, Julio
1,197 Patterson, Danny
1,197 Spencer, Sean
1,198 Miller, Paul
1,212 Perry, Chan
1,225 Conine, Jeff
1,226 Wilson, Vance
1,230 Nelson, Bry
1,246 Spurling, Chris
1,252 Pelaez, Alex
1,252 Jones, Greg
1,260 Crawford, Carlos
1,261 Menechino, Frank
1,261 Sabel, Erik
1,278 Turang, Brian
1,280 Hudson, Orlando
1,286 Nieves, Wilbert
1,290 Farnsworth, Kyle
1,293 May, Darrell
1,300 Ferrari, Anthony
1,311 Hocking, Denny
1,314 Williams, Todd
1,323 Wilkins, Marc
1,326 Miadich, Bart
1,328 Shiell, Jason
1,333 Valdez, Mario
1,348 Voyles, Brad
1,350 Penn, Shannon
1,351 Brown, Adrian
1,353 Patterson, Jeff
1,354 Grundt, Ken
1,359 Garcia, Mike
1,360 Bowles, Brian
1,363 Guzmán, Edwards
1,390 Piazza, Mike
1,391 Benard, Marvin
1,392 Chavez, Anthony
1,437 Woodward, Chris
1,438 Politte, Cliff
1,451 Speier, Justin
1,454 Young, Danny
1,468 Mann, Jim
1,487 Kapler, Gabe
1,493 Gipson, Charles
1,498 Mackowiak, Rob
1,511 Giles, Marcus
1,559 Riske, David
1,560 Koonce, Graham
1,587 Villafuerte, Brandon
1,627 Santiago, José
1,664 Maxwell, Jason
1,716 Seabol, Scott
1,719 Phelps, Travis

Hope you found this list interesting!

Sean

[The Commissioner]

Fantastic list, Sean!!! I actually found that to be fascinating. You're right, that we've all the heard the story about Piazza, but I had no idea that so many players that were drafted that low actually ascended the ranks to the Majors!!!! I'm very surprised by a number of the names on there.

[uthminsta]

interesting list. who would you say are the best from among those?
or maybe an all-time 1000+ draft pick team?

[janduscframe]

If the list is correct, as of July 72 there was a grand total of 24 drafted players on major league rosters. I need to amend this in saying these were FIRST round picks. My error and this makes a big difference.Most notable would be Reggie Jackson.
Tied for perhaps second in fame would be Monday and Ken Brett. Not too impressive. Other names I recall were Larry Burchart(nicknamed Turkey cuz he ran like one) he also pitched like one... Jack Heidemann with that scorching .200 average, Bernie one year Carbo and Billy Conigliaro. If interested I'll bring the list in and post...

I brought the list in as my home computer is still in sick bay. The list looks a little better.

Monday, Joe Coleman,Conigliaro,Ray Fosse, Eddie Leon,Jim Spencer, Alan Gallagher,Leron lee,Jim Lyttle, Gary Nolan, Rich Hebner,Carlos May,Wayne Simpson,Ted Simmons,Munson,Rich Mckinney,Bob Valentine, Lloyd Allen and Tim Foli.

[plask_stirlac]

C - Piazza
1B - V Wilson
2B - Giles
3B - Mackowiak
SS - Spivey, over from 2B or Cintron
LF - Ibañez
CF - E Young
RF -Conine

SP - Curt Sch... close enough
SP - Buehrle
SP - May
SP - Farnsworth... doesn't matter, this staff isn't going to win 40 games.
P - Politte
P - Riske
P - Tankersley
RP - Isringhausen
RP - Shields
RP - Wheeler

But that's pretty good for 1000+ picks. Trade 2Bs and Cs for a few starters.

[W_Marone]

Thats just an example of how the MLB draft talent wise is completely different that an other draft in proffesional sports. For the most part in every other leagues drafts, the first round players usually become stars, while in the MLB guys who were drafted in the sixty+ rounds can become good, solid players.

[Williamsburg2599]

Didn't Jerry Remy accomplish this feat too?


Edit: Never mind...

[Pods fan 22]

as a sox fan i knew buehrle was drafted late, but not that late!

and mike piazza drafted 1,390!? wow!

[Williamsburg2599]

and mike piazza drafted 1,390!? wow!

Yea, he was drafted as a favor for his dad.

[cubsfan1073]

Great list, I couldn't believe Brad Ausmus, Kyle Farnsworth, and Jason Isringhausen were on it.

[utterchaos jr.]

OR...
Ibanez
Lugo
Farnsworth

[utterchaos jr.]

Anyway...that's nice
Almost 30 of them are active players!
About 5-10 of them are starters!
Great list

[closer28]

my youth pastors brother in law is chan perry #1,212 he came to our chuch last year and preached

[Ralph Zig Tyko]

Gornisht helphin.

[stejay]

I couldnt believe that piazza was so low back. That surprised me a lot.

[MDog795]

I never thought Ibanez was drafted that late. Sure, a lot of people know that Piazza was drafted late, but other solid players such as Marcus Giles were drafted just as late

[Ralph Zig Tyko]

A solid player is one thing. Piazza is a future 1st. ballot Hall Of Famer. Big difference.

[stejay]

A solid player is one thing. Piazza is a future 1st. ballot Hall Of Famer. Big difference.

I agree. Piazza will definately be a 1st ballot HOFer

[sturg1dj]

man, its almost like Piazza wasn't "naturally" gifted athletically coming out of high school and somehow he "matured" into the greatest hitting catcher ever.

hmm...

[Wade8813]

Wow, that's quite a list.

I'm just curious - why is this here, and not in the History forum?

[RuthMayBond]

If anyone wants to research late round draft picks, you can use the Draft Pick Search Options

http://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/

[sec39fan]

man, its almost like Piazza wasn't "naturally" gifted athletically coming out of high school and somehow he "matured" into the greatest hitting catcher ever.

hmm...

The guy could always hit but he didnt have a position. Then Tommy LaSorda told em then he'll play catcher and the rest is history.

[sturg1dj]

The guy could always hit but he didnt have a position. Then Tommy LaSorda told em then he'll play catcher and the rest is history.

I don't buy that for a second. Good hitters get drafted high regardless of they can play a position. Ryan Braun? Billy Butler? Both 1st Rounders. Ryan Braun had under a .900 fielding percentage last season and they are still looking for some place for Billy Butler to play.


Of all the picks before the one Piazza was taken there were many chances for an American League team to pick him to be a DH.


the real story was that Lasorda drafted Piazza as a favor to Piazza's father.

[RuthMayBond]

I don't buy that for a second. Good hitters get drafted high regardless of they can play a position. Ryan Braun? Billy Butler? Both 1st Rounders. Ryan Braun had under a .900 fielding percentage last season and they are still looking for some place for Billy Butler to play.


Of all the picks before the one Piazza was taken there were many chances for an American League team to pick him to be a DH.


the real story was that Lasorda drafted Piazza as a favor to Piazza's father.

Greg Luzinski & Dave Kingman were drafted in the first round, and it wasn't for their defense

[sturg1dj]

I just love it when you accuse a beloved player of steroids...people just won't believe it.

Bonds, yes

Clemens, only if there is evidence

Piazza, slow down there